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Florida defense also sloppy against Georgia

Published: Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 10:51 PM.

JACKSONVILLE — Florida played physical enough on the defensive side of the football against rival Georgia.

But penalties and mistakes doomed the Gator defense in its 17-9 loss Saturday to the Bulldogs at EverBank Field.

“We had to be more sound and we had to be smart,” Florida senior defensive lineman Omar Hunter said. “Whether it was penalties or offsides or personal fouls, we just had to play smarter football.”

Of Florida’s 10 penalties against Georgia, four came on the defensive side of the ball. The most critical was a questionable holding call on Florida defensive lineman Dominique Easley in the fourth quarter. Georgia running back Todd Gurley appeared to be behind the line of scrimmage when Easley dragged him down on a screen pass attempt.

“I have zero comment about that one,” Florida coach Will Muschamp said.

The penalty kept alive Georgia’s lone touchdown drive of the second half. Six plays later, Georgia receiver Malcolm Mitchell spun away from UF cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy on a sideline pass and raced 45 yards for touchdown to put the Bulldogs up 17-9.

“We had a missed tackle,” Florida linebacker Jon Bostic said. “We definitely had guys run up to the ball. There’s a lot of things that played up to that. We can’t just point to that one play and say it lost us the game.”

JACKSONVILLE — Florida played physical enough on the defensive side of the football against rival Georgia.

But penalties and mistakes doomed the Gator defense in its 17-9 loss Saturday to the Bulldogs at EverBank Field.

“We had to be more sound and we had to be smart,” Florida senior defensive lineman Omar Hunter said. “Whether it was penalties or offsides or personal fouls, we just had to play smarter football.”

Of Florida’s 10 penalties against Georgia, four came on the defensive side of the ball. The most critical was a questionable holding call on Florida defensive lineman Dominique Easley in the fourth quarter. Georgia running back Todd Gurley appeared to be behind the line of scrimmage when Easley dragged him down on a screen pass attempt.

“I have zero comment about that one,” Florida coach Will Muschamp said.

The penalty kept alive Georgia’s lone touchdown drive of the second half. Six plays later, Georgia receiver Malcolm Mitchell spun away from UF cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy on a sideline pass and raced 45 yards for touchdown to put the Bulldogs up 17-9.

“We had a missed tackle,” Florida linebacker Jon Bostic said. “We definitely had guys run up to the ball. There’s a lot of things that played up to that. We can’t just point to that one play and say it lost us the game.”

Otherwise, it was a mixed day for Florida’s defense. The Gators forced three turnovers on interceptions by Matt Elam, Josh Evans and Neiron Ball. But Florida, which came into the Georgia game with 11 sacks in its previous three games, had no sacks against the Bulldogs.

Florida’s normally strong run defense also was spotty, allowing 123 yards on 3.5 yards per carry.

Hunter said Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray kept the Gators off-balance with his play-calling in the first half by mixing run and pass calls.

“They had a few long runs in the first half,” Hunter said. “We made adjustments in the second half. Sometimes we took some chances on some things that we probably shouldn’t have, but penalties really killed us. We’ve got to do a better job on those penalties.”